YAYAhttp://nfwm-yaya.org
Justice for farm workers!Thu, 15 Feb 2018 22:43:41 +0000en-UShourly1Soccer Solidarity: Hit the Fields for Justice!http://nfwm-yaya.org/2018/02/soccer-solidarity-hit-fields-justice/
http://nfwm-yaya.org/2018/02/soccer-solidarity-hit-fields-justice/#respondWed, 14 Feb 2018 19:47:43 +0000http://nfwm-yaya.org/?p=9894This year, YAYA-NFWM is teaming up with three other social justice organizations for an exciting remake of our annual soccer game. YAYA-NFWM will come together with the Farmworker Association of Florida, the Hope CommUnity Center, and the civil rights champions … Continue reading →

]]>This year, YAYA-NFWM is teaming up with three other social justice organizations for an exciting remake of our annual soccer game. YAYA-NFWM will come together with the Farmworker Association of Florida, the Hope CommUnity Center, and the civil rights champions at CAIR – Council on American-Islamic Relations. The event on Sunday, February 25th will be a cultural exchange and joint fundraiser to continue the important work of all four organizations. We count on your donations to make this exchange a success, and to continue our work for justice all year. Click here to donate by sponsoring a player on the YAYA soccer team!

Our organizations work together throughout the year to fight anti-immigrant legislation, to protect the rights of farm workers, and to defend the rights of Muslim Americans and others who are marginalized. We are working together to pass a Clean Dream Act and to pass a Trust Act for Orlando that would protect immigrants from harassment and detention by local law enforcement on behalf of immigration authorities. Sadly, we come together repeatedly to fight attacks on Black and Brown immigrant communities and to mourn loss of lives to violence. On February 25, we are excited to join forces to celebrate the resilience of immigrant communities and our partnerships with food, music, and the only thing that’s almost as universal as our smiles…soccer! This is a day to exchange laughter and culture and to strengthen our organizations through grassfoots fundraising.

About Our “Hit the Field for Justice!” Partners

NFWM has been an ally to the Farmworker Association of Florida for decades. This farm worker led organization has five offices across Florida and does vital organizing to allow farm worker to protect themselves from wage theft, pesticide exposure, heat stroke, and other workplace dangers. They relentlessly fight for immigration reform and address community problems, while creating the world they want to see with community gardens and cultural events. The Farmworker Association’s work is especially critical right now, in light of the overwhelming amount of cases of wage theft, abuse, and discrimination they have seen this year.

many of whom are farm workers. Through education, advocacy, and spiritual growth, the Hope CommUnity Center transforms individuals and entire communities. They offer citizenship classes and organize neighborhoods with Know Your Rights trainings. They offer English classes to unaccompanied immigrant youth, and service learning immersion trips to students who come to Apopka from all over the U.S. to learn about the lives of farm workers. DACA recipients at HCC are leading the fight in Central Florida for a Clean Dream Act, and their youth group Sin Fronteras provides a way for local youth to become active and build community. Their South Apopka program connects the historically Black community to HCC’s organizing efforts.

TheCouncil on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR Florida, defends the rights of Muslims and all people facing discrimination through legal defense, Know Your Rights Trainings, education, and legislative advocacy. They educate organizations and institutions, including local law enforcement about the basics of Islam and the history and seriousness of Islamaphobia. They continue to loudly and persistently fight multiple Muslim bans since last January, and to respond to the overwhelming rise in hate crimes.

The fourth partner is YAYA-NFWM,the Youth and Young Adult Network of the National Farm Worker Ministry. The funds raised in this soccer game will support our work in solidarity with farm workers across the country. Your donations will specifically help YAYA-NFWM travel to farm worker communities, attend organizing trainings, and strength our relationship with these respective communities.

]]>http://nfwm-yaya.org/2018/02/soccer-solidarity-hit-fields-justice/feed/0Sponsor a Player – Hit the Fields for Justice 2018!http://nfwm-yaya.org/2018/02/sponsor-player-hit-fields-justice-2018/
http://nfwm-yaya.org/2018/02/sponsor-player-hit-fields-justice-2018/#respondTue, 13 Feb 2018 20:59:32 +0000http://nfwm-yaya.org/?p=9862When you sponsor a player from the YAYA team you are supporting NFWM-YAYA’s work in solidarity with farm workers who are organizing for justice. A portion of proceeds will also go to support the critical work of our three partner … Continue reading →

A. Choose YAYA SUPPORT on the project designation field.
B. On the MEMO designation box, type “YAYA Soccer game + the name of the player that you are sponsoring”
C. When you make a donation you will automatically become a part of the YAYA-NFWM Network and you will receive our action alerts and e-newsletters.

Step 3: If you are in Central Florida, join us for the games, food, and fun on Sunday, February 25th from 12 P.M. to 6 P.M. at Northwest Recreation Complex in Apopka. For those of you in other areas, check back for updates about the event!

On Friday, November 10th, YAYA and the Farmworker Association of Florida co-hosted a movie screening of the film “H-2 Worker”, which details the struggles of Jamaican guest workers in Florida’s sugar cane industry. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties we couldn’t play the movie and instead we took the opportunity to talk about in detail about the different types of farmworkers and what protections (or lack of) they have under the current laws. YAYA and FWAF utilized the open floor to ask attendees about their current understanding of farmworker issues and how these issues differ between those farmworkers with work visas, those under guestworker programs, and those who remain undocumented. The exercise helped give insight into the many factors, including harmful pesticides, inhuman living conditions, and discriminatory legislation, that directly affect the farm worker community and different plans of action we can take to fight these injustices.

Finally, we talked about our current fight against the new H-2A bill that is currently in Congress and how it would remove the few protections that guest workers currently have and passed around a petition against it.

]]>http://nfwm-yaya.org/2018/02/film-screening-educates-attendees-current-farm-worker-legislation/feed/0Leadership Florida Class Learns About Current Farm Worker Issueshttp://nfwm-yaya.org/2018/02/leadership-florida-class-learns-current-farm-worker-issues/
http://nfwm-yaya.org/2018/02/leadership-florida-class-learns-current-farm-worker-issues/#respondFri, 09 Feb 2018 17:52:00 +0000http://nfwm-yaya.org/?p=9851By Gabriela Hernandez On Friday December 8th, YAYA-NFWM was invited to give a presentation on current farmworker issues and plans of action as a guest at the Leadership Florida Conference in Howie-in-the-Hills in Lake County, Florida. Influential leaders from across … Continue reading →

On Friday December 8th, YAYA-NFWM was invited to give a presentation on current farmworker issues and plans of action as a guest at the Leadership Florida Conference in Howie-in-the-Hills in Lake County, Florida. Influential leaders from across the state attended and were able to hear testimony from Director of the Farmworker Association of Florida, Tirso Moreno, regarding his own experiences as a shop steward for United Farm Workers (UFW) and current realities of farm workers in Florida. One of these realities is the growing number of H-2A visa holders being brought to Florida, displacing local workers, as well as housing damage and job loss from Hurricane Irma. YAYA-NFWM presented an interactive workshop on farmworker issues and asked the audience questions about current farmworker wages, legislation, and hardships as a means of understanding what the attendees knew about these injustices and how much they had to learn. Attendees learned about legislation regarding the Monsanto merger, H2 guestworker expansion, and the harmful pesticide chlorpyrifos and petition sign-up sheets were passed around.

At the conclusion of the presentation,

many of the leaders in attendance asked poignant questions regarding the issues spoken about and were interested in new ways to take action. It was wonderful to present to such an engaged and supportive group. On the way back to the office, we were able to visit and purchase from the local Monterey Mushroom Farm and also got to meet the staff of the Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA) of Zellwood.

]]>http://nfwm-yaya.org/2018/02/leadership-florida-class-learns-current-farm-worker-issues/feed/0Emergency Rallies for the Dream Act Led by Immigrant Youthhttp://nfwm-yaya.org/2018/01/emergency-rallies-dream-act-led-immigrant-youth/
http://nfwm-yaya.org/2018/01/emergency-rallies-dream-act-led-immigrant-youth/#respondTue, 23 Jan 2018 21:14:44 +0000http://nfwm-yaya.org/?p=9819By Stephanie Melendez On January 18, a National day of Action for the support of a Clean Dream Act, DACA recipients and undocumented activists of Hope CommUnity Center gathered supporters for a funeral to mourn the dreams that may be … Continue reading →

On January 18, a National day of Action for the support of a Clean Dream Act, DACA recipients and undocumented activists of Hope CommUnity Center gathered supporters for a funeral to mourn the dreams that may be lost if Congress does not pass a Clean Dream Act immediately.

The event was kicked off with the personal stories of DACA recipients and of one story of an undocumented student name Lili who was unable to qualify for DACA. She explained that because she was not able to qualify, she understood the fear of the students whose DACA is expiring. Her status however did not disuade her from fighting back. Another DACA recipient, Anallely, countinued this courageous spirit by insisting that a Clean Dream Act was the only way for the community to be safe and continue with their lives and dreams without fear.

In a major win for our cause, Rep. Stephanie Murphy’s team announced through a letter that they would withhold their vote on the spending bill if it did not include the Dream Act. Her decision shows us that she is listening to her community and her constituents. We need Senators Nelson and Rubio to take leadership in passing a Clean Dream Act immediately. The Hope CommUnity Center, Farmworker Association of Florida, and Florida Immigrant Coalition hosted this rally, with stunning visuals made by undocumented and “DACAmented” young people from Hope. YAYA-NFWM, along with many community organizations, faith, and labor allies joined in the rally.

Photos provided by Hope CommUnity Center

Today, January 23, the Hope CommUnity Center held another emergency rally outside of Senator Rubio’s office in response to the continuance of the spending bill without a Dream Act. Senator Rubio was a champion for the Dream Act as well as a pathway to citizenship for farm workers in 2013. Farm workers and immigrant youth still need his support today, as time is running out for DACA recipients.

]]>http://nfwm-yaya.org/2018/01/emergency-rallies-dream-act-led-immigrant-youth/feed/0A YAYA Dreamer on the fight in D.C. and at UCFhttp://nfwm-yaya.org/2017/10/yaya-dreamer-fight-d-c-ucf/
http://nfwm-yaya.org/2017/10/yaya-dreamer-fight-d-c-ucf/#respondWed, 25 Oct 2017 14:15:52 +0000http://nfwm-yaya.org/?p=9678Hello, my name is Karen Caudillo and I’m a DACA student. DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. This program was set up to provide protection to children brought to this country. With DACA, students can get a social … Continue reading →

]]>Hello, my name is Karen Caudillo and I’m a DACA student. DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. This program was set up to provide protection to children brought to this country. With DACA, students can get a social security, driver’s license, work legally and apply to college. I recently moved to Orlando, FL to attend the University of Central Florida. I’m thankful to have joined YAYA and to be their Immigration Committee Co-chair.

In the first week of September, I joined a group of 28 DACA recipients on a four day fast on Capitol Hill through FIRM (Fair Immigration Reform Movement) and CCC (Center for Community Change). Two of my fellow fasters who traveled with me were Ivan of the Farmworker Association of FL and Alejandra of Hope CommUnity Center. This non-violent peaceful protest was to highlight the importance of protecting those who were brought to this country at a young age and only know this country. We didn’t eat for 4 whole days. During this experience we lobbied senators and congress members and talked to the minority party leaders. At one point, we joined the #protectDACA press conference. At the end of this conference which included senators and congress members, a reporter from the New York times started to interview me. What I didn’t know was that CSPAN was still recording and they recorded my very emotional interview. This interview was picked up by Now This and it went viral. I don’t regret it going viral because I feel many people had a change of heart and realized how important DACA was. It highlighted immigration issues this country is facing and how it impacts a student like me. My favorite news media The Guardian wrote a piece on “How One young Dreamer is leading the fight against Trumps DACA Rollback”.

While this whole experience was indescribable and I was thankful for the support, not everything was positive. A group called 4Chann of radical (Nazi) mentality doxed and tried to intimidate me by trying to post all my personal information. Milo Yiannopoulos who reports for an extreme (Nazi) group of people with an estimated 2 million followers came after me and published all my personal information that put me and my family in danger. Out of all this, I believe that I’m on the right side of history and I fear nothing. In the following weeks, I traveled back to Washington, DC to lobby for the DREAM Act 2017. In order to help the estimated 900,000 recipients brought to this country as children, we need to push for the DREAM Act 2017. Calling the White House and your representatives would help us.

In response, the College Democrats, SLAP, YAYA and For Our Future joined forces to show the importance of standing in solidarity with DACA students who are facing a really tough time. We held a rally with Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith and Rep. Amy Mercado who spoke as local representatives supporting our DACA students on the UCF campus. We had six University of Central Florida DACA students go on stage and tell their personal stories. YAYA helped by setting up, sharing information and with having a sign in sheet. We also had a great YAYA group turnout. About 120 people attended and at the end we marched around campus to show solidarity. This event was needed to show DACA students on campus that we are all human and we will continue to stand together. YAYA came out to show that we stood with all people affected by immigration issues.

We would like to thank the groups who worked with us to set this incredible event up. We will continue to fight not just for farm workers, but with all the immigrant communities affected at this time. Together there is nothing that can divide us.

]]>http://nfwm-yaya.org/2017/10/yaya-dreamer-fight-d-c-ucf/feed/0Clinica de Migrantes Film Screening at UCFhttp://nfwm-yaya.org/2017/10/clinica-de-migrantes-film-screening-ucf/
http://nfwm-yaya.org/2017/10/clinica-de-migrantes-film-screening-ucf/#respondThu, 19 Oct 2017 17:03:19 +0000http://nfwm-yaya.org/?p=9650By Aashutosh Pyakuryal On Friday October 13th, the Orlando chapter of YAYA participated in a screening of the film Clinica de Migrantes,which chronicles the struggles of undocumented immigrants trying to receive health care. The film centers around Puentes, a clinic … Continue reading →

On Friday October 13th, the Orlando chapter of YAYA participated in a screening of the film Clinica de Migrantes,which chronicles the struggles of undocumented immigrants trying to receive health care. The film centers around Puentes, a clinic in Philadelphia that caters specifically to undocumented immigrants, and highlights the perspectives of both immigrants and health care providers. After the film, there was a short question and answer session with a panel, which included Orlando YAYA chapter co-chair Kathleen Melendez. Besides Kathleen, the panel also included UCF social work students and staff from the Farmworker Association of Florida and Hope Community Center, two organizations that work with farm workers and undocumented immigrants in Apopka, Florida. Two of the Apopka panelists were DACA recipients.

The film screening was at the University of Central Florida and was organized by Scott Launier and Yovanna Pineda of United Faculty of Florida at the University of Central Florida (UFF-UCF), which is the faculty union on campus. In addition to YAYA, the Farmworker Association, the Hope Community Center and UFF, the Student Labor Action Project, a student organization from the University of Central Florida, was also present at the screening. As a result of having such a wide range of organizations and individuals involved in activism present at the screening, there was a great and at times tear-jerking discussion about the shortcomings of the healthcare system in the United States as well as the grave injustices faced by our undocumented friends.

The screening Clinica de Migrantes was very relevant because it highlights, educates and humanizes the lives of undocumented people at a time when that community is facing severe threats from federal, state and local governments. Additionally, the University of Central Florida College of Medicine, which organizes free clinics for farmworkers in Apopka, Florida in conjunction with the Farmworker Association of Florida, expressed interest in showing the film to all medical students and increasing collaboration with the farmworker community after Friday’s screening. At a time when bigotry and hate dominate the political landscape, this event provided a refreshing alternative by showcasing the power of solidarity.

]]>http://nfwm-yaya.org/2017/10/clinica-de-migrantes-film-screening-ucf/feed/0Theatre of the Oppressed Workshop: A Reviewhttp://nfwm-yaya.org/2017/10/theatre-oppressed-training-review/
http://nfwm-yaya.org/2017/10/theatre-oppressed-training-review/#respondThu, 19 Oct 2017 17:01:38 +0000http://nfwm-yaya.org/?p=9648By Tareek Leonard On September 30th at roughly 7:45am 17 people walked into the Hope CommUnity Center in Apopka, Florida and began to embark on an adventure by the name of “Theater of the Oppressed” led by Nadia Garzon. Many … Continue reading →

On September 30th at roughly 7:45am 17 people walked into the Hope CommUnity Center in Apopka, Florida and began to embark on an adventure by the name of “Theater of the Oppressed” led by Nadia Garzon. Many of us didn’t know what to expect; we just knew a few friends in our communities had signed up to participate in the event and it seemed interesting. But by 6pm on October 1st those same 17 people left the community center not only with a seemingly ethereal connection with all 17 people we participated with, but a better understanding of ourselves and a new way to process and possibly begin to heal from the wounds inflicted by many of the oppressions we face. We also left equipped with the know-how necessary to disseminate the healing skills we’ve learned to communities that may not have access to them. Theater of the Oppressed is a term coined by Brazilian Theater practitioner Augusto Boal in the 1970s to describe a theatrical practice he developed starting in the 1950s and evolved throughout his theatrical career after his exile from the country. With the styles of theorist Paulo Freire in mind and the backdrop of a military dictatorship in Brazil to guide him, he traveled to a slew of countries spanning from Argentina and Peru to France, developing his world changing practice.

The main focus of TO (Theater of the Oppressed) is to counteract an arguably classist form of theater that people mainly engage in where they project their desires onto characters on a stage and obtain catharsis through watching those characters act out a scripted storyline which is often meant to perpetuate certain social paradigms. Instead of just simply watching, or spectating those actors Boal attempts to, and succeeds in, blurring the line between spectator and actor morphing those participators from passive spectators to active “Spect-Actors”, a term also coined by Boal. He did this by way of several techniques. Over time students of Boal took these techniques he developed and added their own personal flare to them. In this workshop we learned Garzon’s version of these techniques.

Three main forms TO may take on are Newspaper Theater, Forum Theater, and Image Theater. Over the span of two days we participated as Spect-Actors in all three of these forms. We began with Image Theater, which is arguably the easiest form of TO to grasp, but still extremely effective in transmitting its message. We were first asked to reflect on some of the oppressions we face and even share them with small groups formed from the 17 people. That in and of itself is, and was, powerful enough to move people to tears. Image Theater challenged us to take it a step further and as a group produce images depicting our oppressions and present them. This can be very vulnerable position for someone to be put in as they are asked to bring to the forefront their experiences pertaining to race, gender, sexuality, and class without the aid of words to buffer the impact. The images we produced allowed us to explore the experiences of many people including black women and undocumented citizens, and through displaying this vulnerability we were able to find healing in both small and large amounts.

Next, we participated in Newspaper Theater, specifically in the practice of Out of Context Newspaper theory. This challenged us to use recent newspaper articles and take bits and pieces from them and use them to form our story. While in the Image Theater, we are able to use words that are our words, we are challenged in the Newspaper Theater to explain our experiences in words that are not organically ours–an experience many oppressed people face daily navigating everyday life. My group in particular ended up using a story made about the strength of a white US Soccer player to tell about the perseverance of a black woman through instances of misogynoir. And while there are many layers within even the optics of that to unwrap and attention definitely should be paid to the articles available to those that participated, the activity still provided everyone, including the black women in the group, some form of healing.

Finally we were tasked with the most engaging and, in my opinion, powerful, form of TO which is Forum Theater. One of the images that we produced from our Image Theater was selected and we were asked to act it out towards a very somber conclusion which in our case ended with a woman ending up in jail and missing her daughter’s college graduation. Then the small One Act was restarted, and at that point we weren’t simply asked what should’ve/could’ve been done to improve the outcome. We were to actually step in and DO what we thought, once again without any words of explanation aside from our “lines”. While all the practices we learned were very moving and effective, I think this one in particular offers the most from which participants have to gain because they are finally able to take control of a situation they may have even personally experienced and do what in that time may have seemed too daunting or dangerous to do when it actually occurred. While we weren’t able to make a full on production in one day, we were definitely able to experience a sample iteration of it and were also given a framework from which we can disseminate to communities that will allow them to make their own productions depicting not only a form of their oppression but something much less seen: a way they make to overcome that oppression. This has powerful implications, as do all the other forms, for people in that it has the ability not only to provide catharsis, but spur people into action, which was Boal’s overall goal in creating TO.

The idea of farm workers having intellectual domain over their own stories and having the power to morph them the way they want to is powerful, but even more powerful is the idea that this exercise on a microscale will become a catalyst for macro scale actions which will aid in the quest for overall liberation. It is for this reason that I would recommend participation in this event as a must for farm workers alike and other organizers alike. In November, we will hold a second workshop at the Hope CommUnity Center to apply the skills we learned as facilitators and use Theatre of the Oppressed to create material supporting the Farm Labor Organizing Committee’s campaign for tobacco workers.

]]>Over the past weeks, YAYA’s have supported food distribution at the Hope CommUnity Center in Apopka and connected the Farm Worker Association of Florida with supplies through Mutual Aid Disaster Relief.

Thank you so much to Mutual Aid Disaster Relief for your tireless efforts in responding to Irma and to local coordinators with the Farmworker Association and Hope CommUnity Center who continue to organize your communities and respond to needs.

]]>http://nfwm-yaya.org/2017/09/yayas-support-disaster-relief-central-florida/feed/0Farm Workers in Florida Need Support after Irmahttp://nfwm-yaya.org/2017/09/farm-workers-florida-need-support-irma/
http://nfwm-yaya.org/2017/09/farm-workers-florida-need-support-irma/#respondMon, 25 Sep 2017 23:27:51 +0000http://nfwm-yaya.org/?p=9578The past three weeks have brought a series of crises to farm workers and immigrant communities in Florida. This is a time for giving on all our parts. The immensity of need in multiple parts of the Americas right now … Continue reading →

]]>The past three weeks have brought a series of crises to farm workers and immigrant communities in Florida. This is a time for giving on all our parts. The immensity of need in multiple parts of the Americas right now is overwhelming, but please continue supporting by making an online donation and/or donating needed supplies to a local collection center. We are also looking for bilingual volunteers to assist with FEMA applications. See our separate post with information on donating to disaster relief for Puerto Rico.

In Florida, many farm workers lost their homes and most or all of their belongings in hurricane Irma. Many are still without power and without a place to live. Undocumented farm workers also have worries about submitting applications for federal disaster assistance, and information is hard to access, as it is only available online. With power and internet still down, the hurdles to apply for FEMA relief are significant. ‘

To make matters worse, the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association estimates statewide that about 70% of the Florida orange crop was lost. This means that in addition to the expenditures of having to relocate to and replace belongings, farm workers have already lost wages to the storm and will continue to be impacted throughout the season. Immokalee is still functioning as a disaster relief zone and will be for some time. Fortunately, material supplies have poured into Immokalee, but other areas of the state have also been hard hit, and ongoing financial assistance is going to be needed to deal with the impact of the disaster.

To DONATE FUNDS to the Farmworker Association of Florida’s hurricane relief fund, which is being used to help farm workers across the state who are impacted by the storm, click here and under “Write a note,” enter “Hurricane relief.”

To VOLUNTEER – If you are bilingual Spanish-English or Haitian Creole-English and you can volunteer in Florida helping farm workers fill out FEMA disaster assistance applications, please email Dominique at yaya@nfwm.org. (FWAF offices in Apopka, Pierson, Fellsmere, Immokalee and Homestead).